Hannes given rare second chance

By Elisabeth Sexton

13 May 2008 — 12:00am

AFTER two trials, two appeals, two convictions and two stints in jail for a 1996 insider trading offence, the former Macquarie Bank executive Simon Hannes has won an uncommon second hearing in the High Court.

His application for special leave to appeal to the High Court was rejected in March by the Chief Justice, Murray Gleeson, and Justice Dyson Heydon.

At a brief hearing last week Justice Bill Gummow listed the matter for "re-argument" on June 13.

Justice Gummow said the new hearing would be "a fairly quick, practical route" in response to a May 1 submission from Mr Hannes.

The submission said Justice Dyson Heydon should have disclosed at the outset of the March hearing that before being appointed to the bench in 2003 he had advised Mr Hannes on his insider trading defence.

"A fair-minded lay observer would reasonably apprehend that the judge who had acted for, or advised, an accused person in his defence to criminal charges might not bring an impartial mind to consideration of whether the convictions of that person should be quashed."

The concern might be stronger "if the lay observer were informed the judge's advice may have been followed, legal rulings sought in accordance with it, and some grounds of appeal had been based on it", it said.

Mr Hannes was first convicted in 1999 of using confidential information from Macquarie Bank (now renamed Macquarie Group) to trade in options in TNT before it was taken over in 1996. He received a minimum sentence of 18 months' jail.

In 2000 the NSW Court of Appeal upheld his appeal, released him from jail after almost 16 months, and ordered a retrial.

A second jury convicted him in 2002, and he was ordered to serve the rest of his initial sentence and an extra two months.

His appeal against the second conviction was dismissed in 2006.

Justice Heydon did not appear for Mr Hannes at any of these trials. That job was handled by Lionel Robberds, QC, in the first trial, David Jackson, QC, in the first appeal and Ian Barker, QC, in the second trial and the first High Court application.

Tim Game, SC, has acted for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions throughout.

Last week Mr Hannes represented himself, as he did for his second appeal.